Boys Soccer CIF semifinals
Friday’s games, 3 p.m.
Division 2
Claremont at Foothill
Division 4
Ganesha at Cathedral
Division 5
Los Amigos at Baldwin Park

Just got word that Baldwin Park scored twice in final ten minutes of regulation to force overtime, then won in suddent death, 4-3 .. Ganesha scored twice in the first six minutes and held on for a 3-1 win over Bonita ….La Puente lost a heartbreaker at home to top-seed Santa Monica, losing in a penalty shootout, 6-5, after a 1-1 tie in regulation and overtime. Also heard that Pomona lost in overtime at Cajon, 3-2. Glendora’s dream run in Division 1 ended in a 1-0 loss to Edison. Claremont scored a huge 2-1 victory over Valle View. Chino Hills couldn’t get anything going against La Habra, loses 2-0, and Diamond Ranch goes down 3-1 to Artesia.

By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
There was never a feeling out process during Wednesday’s CIF-Southern Section Division 4 boys soccer quarterfinal between Ganesha and visiting Bonita, a match-up of the Montview and Hacienda League champions, respectively. The Giants made sure of that, scoring twice in the first six minutes, and again three minutes into the second half, which was too much for the Bearcats to overcome. (To continue, click thread)

CIF-SS Boys Soccer Playoff Results
Wednesday’s second-round
Division 1
Edison 1, Glendora 0
Division 2
Claremont 2, Valle View 1
La Habra 2, Chino Hills 0
Division 4
Santa Monica 1, La Puente 1, Santa Monica advances in PKs, 6-5.
Artesia 3, Diamond Ranch 1
Ganesha 3, Bonita 1
Division 5
Cajon 3, Pomona 2, OT
Baldwin Park 4, Lakeside 3, OT

Inland Insider Tom Kiss reporting on Chino Hills’ loss to La Habra

Below: Quick highlights from Claremont’s 2-1 win over Valle View … man I’m quick finding this stuff. Listen to the announcer, he was calling a play-by-play .. never heard that before.

Ganesha’s Noe Ahumada, Jose Gamboa and Alejandro Garcia all scored to lead the Giants (16-7-1) to a 3-1 victory and a date in Friday’s quarterfinals against either Cathedral or Norwalk at a site to be determined.
“I told our guys we had to execute in the first twenty minutes, but I didn’t anticipate putting two away that quickly,” Ganesha coach Damian Galvan said. “More than that, I thought we played a complete 80 minutes. We knew we were considered the underdog on paper, but I also knew we were good enough to handle it and get a win.”
Ganesha’s Jose Gamboa caught the Bearcats off guard with a long throw-in across the mouth to the back post, where Ahumada was there to head it home for a 1-0 lead in the third minute.
Then on a free kick from the right side, Eduardo Martinez hooked a cross into a crowd of players that Gamboa re-directed with a beautiful one-time shot off the side netting in the sixth minute to double the lead.
“If we could take back the first five minutes it would be a different game,” Bonita coach Adam Archibald said. “To their credit, they played their game on their field and we had a hard time adjusting.
“We had chances to get back in it, but it’s tough falling behind 3-0.”
Garcia finished Martinez’s cross in the 43rd minute to triple the Giants lead.
Bonita (16-5-5) finally scored on a great run up the left side from Leonardo Grigg, who slid a pass in front for Raul Martinez, who finished in the 60th minute to trim the Giants’ lead to 3-1.
Bonita’s Justin Andia broke free momentarily in the 67th minute, but before he could get a shot off, Giants defender Carlos Sanchez stuck his foot in to poke it away.
Grigg almost scored from a yard out in the 69th minute, but it was too little too late.
Bonita had a horrible time trying to create anything from the run of play and rarely strung more than two or three passes together — the wind, lumpy field surface and Giants players having a big say in all of it.
“The conditions were perfect for their (Giants) team,” Archibald said. “Anytime they would get their foot near something, they just kicked it away. It’s hard to get something going on the ground when you play on a field like this, and you play a team that constantly just knocks the ball away. Plus, the wind didn’t help.”
Ganesha prides itself on good passing too, but after jumping to such a big league, the plan was to disrupt the Bearcats’ rhythm and hold on.
“We knew they would come at us hard after we jumped in front,” Galvan said. “It was just a matter of us being composed and not doing anything stupid to give it away.
“I thought our goalkeeper (Felix Arambula) did a great job, and overall, our defense did a tremendous job not giving them too many opportunities.”

Braves win in OT, Warriors lose in PKs
In another Division 4 contest, La Puente nearly knocked off top-seed Santa Monica.
After a 1-1 tie in regulation and four overtimes, Santa Monica advanced in a penalty shootout, 6-5.
Baldwin Park kept its hopes alive in the Division 5 playoffs.
The Braves scored twice in the final ten minutes of regulation to force overtime, then Jaime Reyes scored in sudden death to secure an amazing come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Lakeside to advance to the quarterfinals for the third straight year.
“It was one of the most amazing games I’ve ever been part of,” Baldwin Park coach Ricardo Mira said.